Walt Whitman Shops
Walt Whitman Shops (formerly known as Walt Whitman Mall) is a shopping mall located in South Huntington, New York, United States. The mall's main anchors include Bloomingdale's, Lord & Taylor, Macy's and Saks Fifth Avenue. The mall opened in 1962 and is owned and managed by Simon Property Group, one of the largest developers of shopping malls in the US. The mall is named for the poet Walt Whitman due to the close proximity to his birthplace, a US National Historic Site, located near the mall. History In May 1956, Manhattan's Abraham & Straus department store chain acquired the prospective shopping center site. Consisting of 55 acres, it was located 35.6 miles east of Times Square, in Suffolk County's Town of Huntington. In March 1960, a revised plan was announced for a fifty-four store, open-air mall. This would feature a 3-level Abraham & Straus at its center. Soon after, R.H. Macy & Company acquired 13 acres adjacent to the Abraham & Straus tract. The plan was amended to accommodate both Abraham & Straus and Macy's anchor stores; one at each end of the prospective mall. The Manhattan-based Winston-Muss Corporation bought both land parcels and held an official groundbreaking on April 20, 1961. The firm of Welton Becket & Associates designed the basic retail hub. In the middle of construction, it was decided to enclose the complex. The Copeland, Novak & Isreal firm was recruited to configure its climate-controlled shopping concourse. This 1,200-foot-long "Serpentine Mall" featured a Japanese Garden designed by Keneji and Domoto. It was festooned with four modern art mobiles created by Bogon Grom. These were titled "Sky", "Dandelions", "Leaves of Grass" and "Flight". The first operational Walt Whitman Center store, a 3-level (220,000 square foot) Abraham & Straus, was dedicated March 26, 1962. The 3-level (230,000 square foot) Macy's held its grand opening September 18 of the same year. A mall-wide grand opening was held November 23, 1962. Cutting the ceremonial ribbon were Mrs. Robert Wagner (wife of the Mayor of New York City) and W.K. Winston and David Muss, of Winston-Muss. Music was provided by the Walt Whitman Grand Opening Band, under the direction of Buddy Martin. The dedication festivities culminated with the arrival of Santa Claus, who was flown in via helicopter. Sixty-five stores commenced operation. These included Lerner Shops, Harwyn Florsheim Shoes, The Teen Man, Crown Drug, Flagg Brothers Shoes, a Horn & Hardart restaurant and (29,000 square foot) Hills Super Saving Center grocery. The mall's (68,000 square foot) J.G. McCrory 5 & 10 held its own dedication ceremony, with celebrities such as Julie Newmar and Rudy Vallee in attendance. The Century's Whitman Theatre showed its first feature May 28, 1963. By this time, the full complement of seventy-five stores was in business. Walt Whitman Center, which encompassed 890,000 leasable square feet, was one of the largest fully-enclosed shopping centers in the United States. Regional-class rivals eventually included Mid-Island Shopping Plaza (1956) {6.9 miles southwest, in Nassau County}, Westfield South Shore (1963) {9.9 miles southeast, in Suffolk County} and Smith Haven Mall (1969) {14.7 miles northeast, also in Suffolk County}. By the early 1970s, the shopping venue was officially known as Walt Whitman Mall. It was acquired by New York City-based Corporate Property Investors in 1976. The physical structure was not changed appreciably during the 1970s and 1980s. However, there were interior face lifts, a fourth floor addition to Abraham & Straus (increasing its floor area to 302,700 square feet) and repairs done following a November 1984 fire. A second blaze roared through the McCrory 5 & 10 in May 1991, resulting in two fatalities and severe damage to the store. It was permanently shuttered in the aftermath. A major upgrade and renovation of the mall was proposed in 1997, which was to include double-decking the main concourse, for an expanded GLA of over 1.2 million square feet. However, fierce community opposition caused the project to be abandoned. In September 1998, the real estate portfolio of Corporate Property Investors was acquired by the Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group. A scaled-down renovation of the mall (sans the second retail level) had been undertaken by CPI and was completed by Simon over the next 2 years. During this 85 million dollar refurbishment, marble flooring, vaulted ceilings and a glass-domed Center Court were installed. Abraham & Straus, shuttered on April 30, 1995, re-opened as a Macy's in November 1996. The store had been given a 21 million dollar overhaul. The original Macy's on the mall's south end was shuttered. It was renovated and re-opened, as a Bloomingdale's, in August 1998. A 2-level (120,000 square foot) Lord & Taylor and multi-level parking garage were added to the north end of the mall. Lord & Taylor welcomed its first customers in November 1998. ]] The vacant McCrory store was demolished. A short mall concourse was constructed, which contained twelve new retail spaces. This new East Wingled into a 2-level (100,000 square foot) Saks Fifth Avenue, that opened in March 1999. With its completion, Walt Whitman spanned 1,035,000 leasable square feet and housed eighty-eight tenant spaces. Stores added as part of the remodeling included Daniel Leather, Williams-Sonoma, DKNY and Tourneau Watch Gear. Plans for a large-scale renovation of the shopping venue, similar to those that had been thwarted by community opposition in 1997, were revived in 2004. This project was to include the construction of a second retail level, encompassing 200,000 square feet. Forty inline stores were to be added, along with a bi-level parking structure along the west-facing front of the mall. The Great Recession, and community opposition, halted this expansion. However, in July 2011, the Simon Property Group put forth a prospectus for a smaller-scale remodeling. This would eschew the proposed second level and west side parking garage in favor of an open-air Streetscape of new retail and restaurant space. Construction on the 2-level addition commenced in April 2012 and was completed in November 2013. It added 72,000 leasable square feet to the First Level and 30,000 square feet in a small Second Level. Pottery Barn, Brooks Brothers and Gap / Gap Kids relocated from the interior of the mall to the new Streetscape. New Streetscape stores included West Elm, Brio Tuscan Grille, Zinburger Wine & Burger Bar, Urban Outfitters, Le Creuset, Carhartt and P.F. Chang's China Bistro. As a facet of the renovation, Walt Whitman Mall was renamed Walt Whitman Shops. 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